WWF, Stockholm, 31 August 2011. WWF today released the Baltic Sea Scorecard 2011, a report that assesses how good the countries around the Baltic Sea are at implementing environmental measures and agreements. The total score for the region was an F, indicating a failure to take the needed actions. Only Sweden and Germany came out slightly better with a C grade. The most problematic areas are the fight against eutrophication and the protection of biodiversity.

The Scorecard, today presented at the annual Baltic Sea Seminar in Stockholm during the Baltic Sea Festival, evaluates the degree to which countries around the Baltic region are honouring their commitments to implement the environmental measures and agreements currently in place which offer the best hope for ‘saving’ the Baltic Sea. Germany and Sweden were awarded the best score of the nine countries. They both earned 36 points, less than half of the possible total of 79 points.

The WWF Baltic Sea Scorecard was earlier produced in 2007, 2008 and 2009. This year’s Scorecard measures the nine Baltic Sea countries' environmental performance in five areas: Eutrophication, Hazardous Substances, Biodiversity, Maritime Activities and Integrated Sea Use Management.

Germany and Sweden earned the best grades in this year's scorecard with 36 points out of 79 possible. Germany showed progress in its work to reduce emissions of nutrients and did fairly well in the other areas, too. Sweden demonstrated progressive work especially in maritime activities and integrated sea use management and had higher than average scores in all areas except in the protection of biodiversity, where Sweden’s scores were among the lowest.

Finland ranked third with 29 points, mostly because of its good performance in the reduction of hazardous substances and its progressive work in the area of maritime activities. Denmark scored 28 and Estonia 26 points. Lithuania and Poland were just below with 25 points each. The Scorecard shows that both Latvia and Russia will need to speed up their work to protect and restore the ecosystems of the Baltic Sea.

“WWF Baltic Sea Scorecard 2011”  can be downloaded from http://www.panda.org/baltic.